Greek Initiative News

Campus community turns out for Greek house groundbreaking

Jeff Rankin
05-14-10
Alpha Xi Delta officer Amanda Lopez and Interfraternity Council president lead the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Greek housing unit.
More than 100 Monmouth College students, staff, trustees and alumni attended a groundbreaking ceremony Friday for a Greek life residential facility that will house 19 students beginning this fall.

Part of the college's new Greek life initiative, the 6,000-square-foot house will be initially occupied the Alpha Xi Delta women's fraternity, whose members helped turn the first shovelful of dirt. Also on hand were members of the college's Zeta Beta Tau chapter, which once occupied an earlier house on the site and is slated to become the eventual occupant of the new house, following a fundraising campaign.

It will be the first new construction of Greek housing on campus since 1966, and the first time a women's Greek chapter will occupy its own house on the Monmouth campus--significant, because the first collegiate secret society for women, Pi Beta Phi, was founded at the college shortly after the Civil War. Another early women's fraternity, Kappa Kappa Gamma, also has its Alpha chapter at Monmouth. Both of those chapters will have their first-ever houses this fall, occupying existing college-owned buildings.

Speaking on behalf of all seven MC Greek chapters, Interfraternity Council president Brian Miller ’12 praised the college's Greek initiative, saying, "By providing homes for academic achievement, service and all other fraternal values, we shall live together as brothers and sisters to work towards a better world."

Trevor Newton ’11, president-elect of the student government association, noted, ""With the completion of these new Greek house, more students will have the opportunity to lead. For some this will be a home containing fond memories, for others it will contain the experience of a lifetime."

Construction of the new building is expected to get under way by the end of May.

Greek life housing initiative announced

Barry McNamara
03/22/2010
Monmouth College’s long and storied Greek tradition has reached another milestone with the announcement of a new phase in its Greek Life Initiative.

The Monmouth College Board of Trustees has authorized construction of a new residence unit, a 16-bed Victorian-style facility that will open in the fall of 2010. Because sororities have never had the opportunity to have their own houses at Monmouth, it was decided that the first group to occupy a new Greek house should be women.

“Our board of trustees has recommitted to the perpetuation of Greek life on the Monmouth College campus,” said President Mauri Ditzler. “The trustees are committed to providing and maintaining quality housing for fraternities and sororities, and this is the first step in that process. It is a prototype and will be used to study the possibility for future housing of a similar nature.”

Currently, only one college property fits the zoning and space criteria necessary for the planned 6,000-square-foot structure – the site of “Woodbine,” the former Zeta Beta Tau house at Broadway and Eighth Street.

“With equity dictating that women’s housing should be addressed first, it is our intent to house a women’s sorority in the new house on a temporary basis,” said Ditzler, who explained why that site, in particular, required a “temporary” status. “Because of the deep attachment that the men of ZBT have to the Woodbine lot, it is our long-term intent that the new house there becomes the permanent home of ZBT.”

MC’s office of development and college relations will work with ZBT alumni on a fundraising plan for the house. After funds have been raised to cover the cost of construction, and when student housing needs have been adequately addressed, the Delta Lambda chapter of Zeta Beta Tau will again reside at Broadway and Eighth.

As part of the construction this summer, a ZBT memorial garden will be installed, honoring the memory of the late chemistry professor Richard “Doc” Kieft, longtime adviser for the fraternity, as well as ZBT brothers David Bayles, Max Rylander and John Miller, who were killed in a car accident in 1991.

In addition to the construction of the new residence unit, Ditzler said that another immediate goal of the Greek Life Initiative is to have a campus master plan in place by the fall.

“Our desire is to have all our students involved in educationally meaningful activities,” said Ditzler. “When a Greek institution is run correctly, it is consistent with our goals of academic rigor and active citizenship. Our experience is that when there is a close relationship between a college and its fraternities and sororities, Greek students are among the academic leaders on campus.”